I’m excited, I only have 20 days to go until Merry Blogmas ends for 2017. ☹☹ I’m happy I made it this far and if you’re participating and I know some of you are you should be happy you made it this far so give yourself an atta girl or atta boy.
I decided to write on What’s It Like To Work Retail For The Christmas Season?
You see for 18 Christmas Seasons I worked during Christmas. No it wasn’t seasonal work either. I either worked full-time, part-time or part-time but worked full-time hours. I saw 18 Christmas Seasons go by until the store closed their doors in January of 2015. The stories I could tell you.
In fact, right after I started working retail I had this mother and her kids. She told me that they were on their way to the airport. She got mad at me when I told her she needed her receipt to return her items. She wasn’t happy she had to wait in line. Due to the fact it was the Christmas season there were a lot of people in line which didn’t make this woman happy either. She didn’t have the Christmas spirit despite our Christmas music and Christmas displays. She eventually went and got her receipt but it was unreadable because her one kid vomited on the receipt. She did pay cash but it went to the manager’s desk and the result is unknown. Every Christmas there was at least one Story if not more.
In the Same Christmas Season I had this elderly woman who wanted me to be her personal shopper. Had I done it for her before? Yes when it wasn’t as busy. However, this particular day it was not only busy but there were people waiting in line before her. What did I do? I took her aside and explained she had to wait her turn in line like the others and I would take care of her when it was her turn. The result? She was not happy. I asked my boss if what I did was the right thing to do and she agreed with me and she needed put in her place.
Each Christmas season the men would wait to the 23rd or 24th of December to do their shopping. They would come in and say to me she’s about your height and weight and money is no object. The result? I would take them to the most expensive sweater and show them the size I would buy if I were buying the sweater and they always walked away happy. It gave me the satisfaction to know I helped them find a Christmas gift. This happened every Christmas season. What I had to look forward to!!
WELCOME TO CRYSTAL'S SITE(ORIGINALLY COUNTRY LIVING) 
I remember working retail and getting home every night singing all the Christmas music and then saying to myself, “shut up already with the Christmas music!” Of course, once I worked in a shop where accepting returns was a sad day, and if you happened to be the sales assistant to ring up a return on the register the money subtracted impacted your individual sales number. I had to fight with the store manager one day. I was like, “the customer had the receipt and wanted to return the item, why is this my fault. Shove it!” I got some seriously awesome respect from my coworkers that day. And the manager learned not to mess around with me at Christmas-New Year’s!
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Been there. I know how you feel. I had one lady bring something back from home dept. I think it was a quilt but not sure. anyhow, she had the item for 10 years and still had the receipt. I called the manager and she said to return it because she had the receipt. I understand completely. Did it for 18 years.
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You deserve a medal for working with the public all those years, people can be difficult.
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Yes they. They’ll tell you how sweet and nice you are to your face but turn around and be mad at you. Two faced is what I call it. Co-workers are the same way. It was an experience.
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Whatever people say about working in retail, I have never heard the word “boring” used to describe their experience.
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No it was never dull or boring.
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Thanks for those times you worked. It is always conforting to meet someone as yourself when those times of needing help are present. Christmas shopping can be stressful enough. 🙂👍🏾Thanks!
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You are so welcome. I enjoy meeting new people. I remember one time at Christmas this woman got upset at me because I was going to slow for her. I told her I was going as fast as I could. It was then she told me she had bought a bed for her kid on Craig’s List and needed to hurry up. Of course I needed a manager for something that day and that didn’t help things. She wasn’t happy. I thought to myself if you have somewhere to be why are you here shopping? Thanks for commenting. I have so many stories I could tell.
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So cool to hear! Well we are here to read those many stories. Thanks for posting👍🏾🙂
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Glad you like reading them. You’re Welcome👍👍🙂🙂
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